Information Technology is committed to the security of your personal information and other information on UNC’s computer network. As reports of electronic information lost or stolen from universities, businesses and government entities become more and more common, we continually implement new security measures at UNC.

Part of our ongoing security upgrades will be new guidelines for passwords used to log onto your computer or access online university resources such as Ursa.  Beginning Aug. 1st 2006, when your password expires, the password-reset screen will prompt you to follow the new guidelines. They require that passwords: 

            - Be at least nine characters long
            - Not use more than two of the characters in your account name
            - Include characters from at least three of these four categories:
                       English uppercase characters (A – Z)
                       English lowercase characters (a – z)
                       Base 10 digits (0 – 9)
                       Non-alphanumeric (for example: !, $, #, or %)

Because of the improved security of passwords created using these guidelines, you will need to change your password only every 90 days (the current requirement is 45 days).